4.  The applicant was born in 1964 and is currently serving a prison sentence in the Netherlands.
5.  On 1 October 1997 the applicant was detained on remand (voorlopige hechtenis) on suspicion of involvement, together with others, in the robbery of a couple in the Netherlands in the course of which the man had been killed in front of the woman, who had been raped several times and had eventually been killed in Belgium. The criminal proceedings brought against the applicant, in which he stood accused of offences including rape, deprivation of liberty, murder, theft and robbery, came to an end on 5 September 2000 when the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) confirmed the judgment of the 's-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal (gerechtshof) dated 22 April 1999 in which the applicant had been sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. In the meantime, requests for his extradition from the authorities of both Germany and Belgium, where the applicant was wanted on suspicion of various serious offences, had been declared permissible on 18 March 1998 and 24 June 1998 respectively.
6.  The applicant was initially detained in an ordinary remand centre (huis van bewaring). On 16 January 1998, on the basis of information that the applicant appeared to be playing a key role in the preparation of an escape plan involving the taking of hostages, he was transferred to the National Segregation Unit (Landelijke Afzonderingsafdeling) in a Rotterdam detention facility. On 2 February 1998 he returned to an ordinary remand centre, but on 11 May 1998 – following a report that the applicant and another detainee were involved in smuggling a telephone and weapons into the remand centre – he was transferred back to the National Segregation Unit.
7.  On 25 June 1998, on the advice of the special selection board of the EBI, the Minister of Justice decided to place the applicant in the pre-trial detention unit of the EBI, which is part of the Nieuw Vosseveld Penitentiary Complex in Vught. His detention in the pre-trial unit of the EBI was reviewed and extended by the Minister every six months. On 26 October 2000, on the advice of the EBI special selection board, the applicant's stay in the EBI was extended once again by the Minister. As the applicant's conviction had become final in the meantime, he was transferred to the EBI prison unit. His detention in the EBI prison was reviewed and extended by the Minister every six months. The applicant unsuccessfully challenged each extension decision before the Appeals Board (beroepscommissie) of the Central Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice (Centrale Raad voor Strafrechtstoepassing). On 1 April 2001 the Central Council was replaced by the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles (Raad voor Strafrechtstoepassing en Jeugdbescherming).
8.  In May 2001, after a fight between the applicant and a co-detainee, the applicant was placed under a so-called individual regime, as it was held that his security could not be guaranteed by the institution if he were to come into contact with other detainees. This measure, which resulted in the applicant's being excluded from communal activities and being allowed to participate in activities on an individual basis only, was reviewed and extended every fortnight. The applicant unsuccessfully challenged each decision to extend the measure. The measure was lifted on an unspecified date in May 2002.
9.  According to a report dated 17 October 2001 further to an examination of the his psychological condition by the Penitentiary Selection Centre (Penitentiair Selectie Centrum), the applicant left a strong impression of a very angry, impulsive and combative man. He displayed no clear symptoms of depression and his references to suicide appeared to arise from feelings of anger at having been unjustly convicted and placed in the EBI and to be aimed at “punishing” those around him for what they had done to him. He gave the impression of suffering from a serious personality disorder with mainly narcissistic and anti-social features. After a difficult period, the situation around him had now stabilised to a reasonable degree and his dealings with the EBI staff had become easier.
10.  In a letter of 23 October 2001 the applicant was informed that the Minister of Justice had decided to extend his detention in the EBI once again. That letter, in its relevant part, read as follows:
“From the information held about you, it appears – quite apart from your membership of a criminal organisation – that you must be regarded as likely to try to escape (vluchtgevaarlijk). In this respect, I would inform you as follows.
You are currently detained in connection with the commission, together with others, of very serious crimes which provoked a public outcry and undermined law and order to a serious degree. In addition you are suspected of having committed very serious crimes in other European countries, resulting in extradition requests by Belgium and Germany which have been accepted as permissible by the Breda Regional Court (arrondissementsrechtbank). You will be extradited to Belgium. On 20 October 1999 you were questioned by the German police and on 17 April 2001 by the Belgian authorities. The expectation is that you will face (a) lengthy prison sentence(s) in those countries. On 16 January 1998 there were indications concerning you – in [the ordinary] Breda [remand centre] – from which it appeared that you (and others) intended to escape. It further appeared that there were plans to take staff members hostage. You were to play a key role in the planned escape attempt. At an earlier stage of your detention – also in Breda [remand centre] – (official) reports had been received indicating that you had the intention of escaping using a visitor's pass. This resulted in your placement – on 16 January 1998 – in the [Rotterdam] National Segregation Unit.
On 2 February 1998 you were placed in [the ordinary] Middelburg [remand centre]. On 11 February 1998 you reported that you had received clothes and shoes not belonging to you. A clasp knife measuring 23-25 cm was found in the shoes, which you surrendered to a staff member. On 4 April 1998 you smashed in the window of your cell.
On 6 May 1998 reports concerning you were received, according to which you were intending to smuggle a telephone and/or weapons into the detention centre inside audio equipment.
On 11 May 1998 you were again placed in the National Segregation Unit, pending a decision on a proposal to place you in the EBI.
After you had been placed in the EBI on 25 June 1998 you displayed a particular interest in the security of the establishment. When other detainees were being moved, you observed the course of events closely, noting which doors opened and which remained closed. You also enquired of staff how well the building was secured, whether conversations were monitored and how many detainees the building could accommodate.
Around 30 July 1999 you twice tried to circumvent the EBI security measures, resulting in a warning being issued to you. In the period between January 2000 and 19 June 2000 you displayed recalcitrant behaviour and a desire to push back boundaries, in particular with regard to the rules governing the prison regime.
Between July 2000 and 23 October 2000 you issued threats against various persons, including a judge. You declared in that connection 'that you still knew people outside who would take care of this for you'.
Also in the period between November 2000 and 11 April 2001, you issued threats against EBI staff. You argued that the prison authorities and prison doctor were to blame for the situation in which you found yourself. In that connection you (further) indicated that those persons would pay for the things that they, in your opinion, had done to you.
From the above, the assumption appears justified that (you realise that) you have nothing more to lose and, in consequence, will seize every opportunity to escape.
After you had been sentenced to life imprisonment in first-instance proceedings, you were sentenced by an irrevocable judgment to twenty years' imprisonment for serious crimes. In addition, you are suspected of having committed very serious crimes in various other European countries, resulting in extradition requests by Belgium and Germany which have been accepted as permissible by the Breda Regional Court. You will be extradited to Belgium. The expectation is that you will face (a) lengthy prison sentence(s) in those countries.
An escape on your part would be unacceptable to society. Noting the above, and also the grave concern expressed by society and public opinion at the very serious crimes which you have committed, as a result of which law and order was undermined to a serious degree, the [EBI] selection board, having heard evidence from the selection officer who has spoken with you, has advised me to continue your detention in the EBI. I have taken a decision to that effect.”
11.  As he had done in respect of the previous such decisions, the applicant again challenged the decision to extend his stay in the EBI, by lodging an appeal with the Appeals Board of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles, arguing that his (continued) detention in the EBI was, inter alia, in breach of his rights under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention.
12.  On 29 January 2002 the Appeals Board dismissed the appeal. It noted that the applicant had been sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment for very serious crimes giving rise to grave concern in society and public opinion. In addition, he was suspected of having committed serious offences in other European countries, in connection with which Belgium and Germany had sought his extradition. The expectation was that he would face lengthy prison sentences in both countries. It therefore considered that the applicant, in the event of an escape, would pose an unacceptable risk to society, in terms of severe disturbance of public order. Of lesser importance was the risk of escape in itself, that is, the situation provided for in Article 6 (b) of the Regulation of 15 August 2000 on the selection, placement and transfer of detainees (Regeling selectie, plaatsing en overplaatsing van gedetineerden). The Appeals Board further concluded that, having found no facts or circumstances militating against the continuation of the applicant's stay in the EBI, the decision to extend his detention there was lawful and that, weighing up all the interests involved, it could not be considered as unreasonable or unjust. The Board did not deal with the applicant's arguments under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention.
13.  By a decision of 19 April 2002 the applicant's detention in the EBI was again extended. His appeal to the Appeals Board, in which he again relied on, inter alia, Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention, was dismissed on 22 July 2002.
14.  The Appeals Board reaffirmed its opinion that the applicant, in the event of an escape, would pose an unacceptable risk to society in terms of severe disturbance of public order, and that the risk of escape was, in itself, of lesser importance. In the absence of any facts or circumstances militating against a continuation of the applicant's stay in the EBI, it also found that the decision to extend his detention there was lawful and that, weighing up all the interests involved, it could not be considered as unreasonable or unjust. It did, however, add that – before a decision was taken on whether to extend further the applicant's detention in the EBI – the applicant should speak with a psychologist from the Penitentiary Selection Centre, and that the report to be drawn up following that conversation was to be taken into account in the decision‑making process.
15.  On 12 May 2003 the applicant was transferred to an ordinary prison in Maastricht.
16.  On 10 August 2004 another individual – who had been detained in the EBI between 26 June 1998 and 24 December 2003 – brought a civil action in tort (onrechtmatige daad) against the Netherlands State before the Regional Court of The Hague. One of the grounds on which he claimed payment of compensation in respect of non-pecuniary damage for unlawful acts for which he considered the Netherlands State to be liable was that, from his arrest in March 1998 until the end of December 2003, he had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment on account of the conditions of his detention, including having had to undergo humiliating and unnecessary strip-searches. He based this part of his claim on, inter alia, the Court's findings in its judgments of 4 February 2003 in the cases of Van der Ven v. the Netherlands (no. 50901/99, ECHR 2003-II) and Lorsé and Others v. the Netherlands (no. 52750/99), the findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) as set out in two reports (see paragraphs 44-45 below), and a report drawn up on 10 October 2003 by academic researchers on the psychological impact of the EBI regime on the mental well-being of (former) inmates (see paragraph 21 below).
17.  On 11 July 2005 the applicant and eight other (former) EBI detainees applied to the Regional Court for leave to join the civil action against the Netherlands State. Their application related to the part of the claim concerning compensation for non-pecuniary damage sustained as a result of inhuman and degrading treatment on account of the conditions of detention in the EBI, including having had to undergo humiliating and unnecessary strip-searches. Those civil proceedings are still pending and, to date, no decision has been taken on the applicant's request to join them.